EVIDENCE OF COMMUNICATION. 17^ 



placed one of them to the glass with many larvae, the 

 other to that with two or three. Each of them took a 

 larva and carried it to the nest, returning for another, 

 and so on. After each journey I put another larva in 

 the glass with only two or three larvae, to replace that 

 which had been removed. Now, if other ants came 

 under the above circumstances as a mere matter of 

 accident, or accompanying one another by chance, or 

 if they simply saw the larvae which were brought and 

 consequently concluded that they might themselves 

 also find larvae in the same place, then the numbers 

 going to the two glasses ought to be approximately 

 equal. In each case the number of journeys made by 

 the ants would be nearly the same ; consequently, if it 

 was a matter of scent, the two glasses would be in the 

 same position. It would be impossible for an ant, 

 seeing another in the act of bringing a larva, to judge 

 for itself whether there were few or many larvae left 

 behind. On the other hand, if the friends were 

 brought, then it would be curious to see whether more 

 were brought to the glass with many larvae, than to 

 that which only contained two or three. I should also 

 mention that, excepting, of course, the marked speci- 

 mens, every ant which came to the larvae was im- 

 prisoned until the end of the experiment. I give the 

 details in the Appendix. 



The results of the above experiments are shown ai 

 a glance in the following Table : — 



